Sugar-cane mill



(No mm) 3Sheets-Sheet 1.

' A. LEBLANG. 1

SUGAR CANE MILL. I N6. 408.630. Patented Aug. 6, 1889.

WITN ESSES I fayflM dwf ATTORNEYS (No Model.) s'sheew-s heet 2. A.LEBLANC. SUGAR (JANE MILL.

Pate nfcedAug. 6 1889.

INVENTOR WITNESSES.

ATTORNEYS 1W0 Model a Sheet;sSheet 3.

A. LEBLANC..

' SUGAR CANE MILL.

No. 408,630. Patented Au 6,.1889.

WITNESSES; v INVENTUR FFIQEQ PATENT ALFREDO lIlClll iANU, OF HAVANA,CUBA.

" SUGAR-CANE MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,630, dated August6, 1889. Application filed October 20, 1888. Serial No. 288,624. (Nomodel.)

2'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFREDO LEBLANC, a citizen of Spain, residing atllavan a, Province of Havana, Island of Cuba, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Sugar- Cane Mills, of which the'following isa SPCCl. tication, reference being had to the drawings accompanying andforming a part of the same.

My invention is an improvement in that class of sugar-cane mills inwhich the cane or bagasse from which the juice is to be expressed ispassed through successive pairs of rolls.

The principle of construction usually followed in mills of thisdescription to mount the two or more pairs or sets of crushing-rolls ina suitableframe-work and to provide proper guides or channelsb'stii'een'themfor the passage of the cane or bagasse from one pair tothe next. The pairs or sets of .rolls have been in some instances gearedtogether and driven by one common source of power, the power required todrive one set being transmitted through the other or others, while inothers independent driviu g mechanism has been employed for each set orpair of rolls. In the former kind of mill boxes or covered guides havein some cases been employed as the means of conducting the bagasse fromone pair of rolls to the other, an example of this being found incertain forms of mill in which two or more rolls are used in conjunctionwith one larger roll and all geared. The cane in such a mill is firstpassed between the large roll and one of the others and then directedthrough a channel or guide-chamber, by the sides or walls of which it.isconlined and conducted to another of the smaller rolls, and so on;but these arrangements do not properly fulfill the requirements ofeconomical workin g. It will be undeis'tood that the working conditionsin crushing the cane are very different from those required of thepressure rolls through which the crushed cane or bagasse passes, andthat in consequence the provisions made for feeding the cane to thefirst crushing rolls are not suited to the feed of the bagasse to theother rolls, which, being geared positively to the first, move faster orslower, according to the pressure upon the cane. It has therefore been afault in all former mills, so faras my information extends, that thebagasse is either fed to the pressurerolls irregularly, or that thespeed of the 1.u-(- ssurc-rolls is independent of that of thecrushing-rolls, the result being that the pressure of one pair of rollsis likely to be in ad Vance of that of the other pair of rolls, andthereby cause shocks, breakdowns, or iheloss of juice on account of badcrushing.

The obj ect. of my present i nvention is to feed one pair of cylindersor rolls from the other by means of a confining guide or box or chamher,and at the same time to drive each pair of rolls independently, with thepurpose that each pair of rolls may be operated by a force or source ofmotive powerindependent of the other in such manner that the feed of onepair of rolls may be effected automatically by the conjoint action ofthe other rolls and the effect of the said box.

The object of the invention is also to sub ,iect the sugar-cane to aspecial treatment .in its passage through the mill by constructing thesaid guide or box in a manner to disintcgrate or tear the bagasse as itpasses through it.

These improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a vertical vicwof a simple form of cane-millembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is adiagram View illustrating a modified form of mill. Fig. I is a diagramsectional view of another apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 5 is atop and plan view of the same. Figs. 6 and 7 are vertical diagramsillustrating different forms of mill to which the invention isapplicable.

In Figs. 1 and 2 A 13 represent a pair of crushing juice-expressingrolls of any ordinary eane-mill, X being the inclined guideby which thecane is fed to the said rolls.

0 l) are a second pair of: rolls, which give the second pressure to thecrushed cane, Z being the chute through which the bagasse leaves themill. These two pairs of rolls are driven in any desired or convenientmanner by sources of power independent of one another to the extent thata variation in the speed of one pair of rolls will not sensibly affectthat of the other pair. The rolls are connected by an intermediate feedbox or conduit ll.

This device. which for convenience I call a terialsupplied to them.

box, is an inclosed or confining conduit guide or passage through whichthe bagasse as it issues from the rolls A B-passes to the second pair ofrolls C I). It may be constructed in many ditferent ways with top,bottom, and sides, when necessary or desired. Its action is as follows:The rolls A I by their pressure reduce to bagasse the cane fed to them,expressing the greater part of the juice therefrom and distributingevenly the accumulating bagasse in the box or conduit II. The bagassebeing more and more packed into this conduit II, moves forward, reachingthe rolls C'D only after having completely filled the conduit H, or, inother words, after having formed, as in a mold, a compact andhemogeneous mass. which is presented with even thickness along the wholelength of the second pairof rollsU I); but while this action is going onthere is established at the same time, by the instrumentality of the boxor conduit II, a pressure from the rolls A 1; against the rolls C D,which causes a certain resistance to the rotation of the feeding-rolls AB.

It is especially with the object of turning to advantage the effects ofthis intermediate pressure that I have driven the two sets of rolls byindependent sources of power, in order that the feeding-rolls A 1' maynot run faster than the others can dispose of the ma- In this manner thefeeding of the bagasse to the rolls C D is effected evenly, uniformlycontinuous without choking, and automatically, and the treatment of thecane and expressing of the juice is accomplished more perfectly andeconomically. This feature of my invention is applicable generally tomills, without regard'to the number or special arrangement of thecrushing or squeezing rolls. For example, in Fig. 3 there are shownthree pairs of rolls A ll, A l1, and C 1). In this case, to receive theadvantages of my invention I insert an intermediate box or conduit llbetween the rolls A B and A 3', and a second and similar box ll betweenA i and (l D. Each pair of rolls in this apparatus is to be driven by anindependent motor or source of power.

It is also obvious that my invention is applicable to mills having setsof three or more rolls, as in Figs. I and 5 and in diagram in Figs. 6and 7. In these figures R S T form a set of three rolls. The rolls R andS are geared to the roll '1, forming two erushers 0r squeezers and aredriven by the same motive power. The pair of rolls I) is driven by anindependent source of power, and is connected with the rolls R Sbythebox or conduit ll.

The caneis fed into the mill by the chute X, and is seized by the rollsR S, which crush it. It is then conducted along the guide-plate I to beseized by the rolls S and T, which pack it in the box or conduit ll,whence it is finally withdrawn by the ro s 0 I), as above explained.

In this apparatus the rolls R S T may be regarded as the feeding-milland rolls (2 I) the receiving-mill, the action of the former beingautomatically regulated by that of the latter.

A feature of my invention applicable generally to mills having anintermediate box or conduit, as herein described, is shown in Fig. 4. Onthe inner surfaces of the box orconduit of any kind used to convey thebagasse from one set of rolls to the next I secure or form teeth orprojections M of suitable form to divide and tear the fibers of thebagasse, thus opening the cellular structures of the material andpreventing the reabsorption of the juice at the time when the bagasseissues from its last compression.

The teeth or projections M may be formed on the plate l, as shown inFig. 4, or they may be similarly set in any channel or conduit throughwhich the bagasse is forced to pass.

It will be observed th tthemeans described in my patest, i\'o. 304,012,of August26, 1884, for the introduction of liquid and steam into thebagasse may be applied to this apparatus without material change.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a cane-mill, the eombination,withtwo or more independently-driven. sets of pressure-rolls, ofintermediate closed boxes or conduit-chambers for confining andconducting the bagasse as it passes from one set of rolls to the next,as herein set forth.

2. In a cane-mill,the combination, with indepemlently-driven sets ofpressure-rolls, of intermediate closed conduits having teeth orprojections on their inner surfaces for tearing and dividing the bagasseforced through said conduits from one setof rolls to the next.

3. In a cane-mill, the combination, with two or more sets ofpressure-rolls, of closed uides or conduits for confining the bagasse asit passes to and from said rolls, and having teeth or projections ontheir faces for dividing and tearing the bagassc forced through them, asherein set Forth.

ALFREDO LEIZLANC.

Witnesses:

Josnrn A. SPRINGER, Es'rnnAU A. Recent.

